New York Rangers let Game 1 of Stanley Cup Final slip away, but can’t afford a repeat

Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist can not stop this shot by Kings Drew Doughty in the 2nd period. The Los Angeles Kings faced the New York Rangers in game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Los Angeles, CA. 6/4/2014(Photo by John McCoy / Los Angeles Daily News)

Rangers Marc Staal and Kings Dustin Brown collide in the first period. The Los Angeles Kings faced the New York Rangers in game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Los Angeles, CA. 6/4/2014(Photo by John McCoy / Los Angeles Daily News)

The sense of lost opportunity in the New York Rangers’ dressing room was as obvious as the thick accents of their legion of fans in and around L.A. Live on Wednesday night.

Their was regret in the air, and it hung ominously as the Rangers peeled off their uniforms and plotted the remaining hours of an utterly frustrating night.

They let the Kings off the hook in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.

They knew it, the Kings knew it.

And everybody who filtered out of Staples Center into the heat of an early summer night in downtown Los Angeles knew it.

The Kings weren’t ready to take the ice in Game 1, at least not in the sense of opening night on hockey’s grandest stage.

Their legs were holed up somewhere between Chicago and L.A., the result of their taxing Western Conference final against the Blackhawks that tapped every bit of resolve they had.

The rest of their bodies were stuck in quicksand.

Maybe it was the after affects of three consecutive Game 7s to get to the Stanley Cup Final, or perhaps it was just one of those days when the head demanded one thing but the bodies offered something else entirely.

But rather than build on the momentum, the Rangers eased up on the accelerator.

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Instead of finishing the Kings off, they allowed them to hang around.

First came a goal by Kyle Clifford that cut the lead to 2-1 late in the opening period.

Then came Drew Doughty’s equalizer just over six minutes into the second.

Followed by missed opportunity after missed opportunity, a little bit of apathy and a whole bunch of magic by Jonathan Quick in front of the Kings goal.

Until finally, Game 1 moved into overtime, and there the Rangers skated head-first into the uncanny clutch factor of Kings winger Justin Williams, who broke free just long to hoist a shot beyond the reach of Lundqvist to propel the Kings to victory and send the frustrated Rangers searching for answers.

“Right now it’s just disappointment,” said Rangers forward Brad Richards.

Or as Lundqvist explained: “It’s disappointing when you lose. Especially when you’re that close.”

The Rangers were close alright, and even the Kings conceded afterward they probably stole a win.

“We kind of got an ugly one,” Mitchell admitted.

It only added to the Rangers’ dismay.

You need four wins to claim hockey’s greatest prize, and to let even one of them slip from your grasp is a crime sometimes punishable by a lifetime of regret.

The Rangers didn’t just let a winnable game elude them, they also whiffed on a chance to wrestle away home-ice advantage from the Kings.

Nearly as important, they let the Kings beat them on a night the Kings’ bodies and minds were decidedly out of sync.

Chances like that don’t present themselves too often.

Opportunities like that are meant to be capitalized on, not squandered.

The Rangers needed to play a complete game. They ended up producing just a partial one.

And it cost them a chance to take early control of this seven-game series.

“I feel when you play against such a good opponent that has all that strength, you need to play a full game,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said.

But the Rangers didn’t, slowing down to end the first period, allowing Doughty to knot it up in the second and all but disappearing in the third.

“We turned pucks over, didn’t play north-south and gave them momentum,” Richards said.

And in the process, allowed the Kings to re-set, re-engage and seize the moment.

“That’s a good hockey team on the other side,” Rangers forward Martin St. Louis said. “They’re going to force you to make mistakes.”

Perhaps.

But the Rangers have mostly themselves to blame.

They had control of Game 1.

And they let the Kings slither away, only to come lunging back in overtime and bite them with a stunning loss.

“We’ll forget tonight, think about what we did right and wrong and we’ll work on those for the next game,” Richards said.